4.  The applicant was born in 1970 and lives in the town of Mariinskiy Posad of the Chuvashiya Republic.
5.  On 24 October 1994 the Mariinskiy Posad Town Court convicted the applicant of destruction of the property and sentenced him to two years' imprisonment. That judgment was quashed on 8 August 1996 by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The case was remitted for a fresh examination.
6.  On 10 February 1998 the criminal proceedings against the applicant were discontinued because his guilt had not been proven.
7.  In 2001 the applicant sued the Ministry of Finance and the Judicial Department of the Supreme Court in tort.
8.  On 15 May 2001 the Basmanniy District Court of Moscow allowed the applicant's action and awarded him 36,012.53 Russian roubles (RUR, approximately 1419 euros). The judgment became final on 6 July 2001.
9.  On 25 July 2002 the Chuvashiya Treasury credited the judgment debt to the account of the applicant's representative.
10.  In 1997 the applicant asked the Mariinskiy Posad Town Council to provide him with housing because his flat had been destroyed by a fire and, as an unlawfully convicted person, he had the right to free housing.  The Council refused and the applicant appealed to a court.
11.  On 3 July 2001 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, in the final instance, ordered that the Mariinskiy Posad Town Council should provide the applicant, within three months, with a flat that met the requirements of Articles 40 and 41 of the RSFSR Housing Code.
12.  According to the Government, on 6 June 2001 the Council offered the applicant to move into a one-room flat. The applicant refused because the flat did not meet the requirements of the Housing Code.
13.  Enforcement proceedings were instituted on 12 July 2001 but the judgment was not enforced because the Council did not have available housing or financial resources to purchase a flat.
14.  In 2002 the applicant asked a court to award him a sum representing the price of the flat with which the Council had to provide him.
15.  On 12 March 2002 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dismissed the applicant's request.
16.  In April 2002 the Council offered the applicant a loan which would have allowed him to pay seventy percent of the purchase price of a flat. The applicant declined the offer.
17.  In July 2003 the Council offered the applicant a flat with stove heating. A bailiff refused the offer because the flat was in a dilapidated block of flats and did not satisfy the requirements of the Housing Code.
18.  In April 2004 the applicant was offered another flat which he refused because it had no gas heating and sanitary facilities.
19.  In the meantime, the applicant asked the Supreme Court to amend the method of enforcement of the judgment of 3 July 2001 and to award him money in lieu of the flat.
20.  On 27 April 2004 the Supreme Court granted the applicant's request and awarded him RUR 290,400. The Supreme Court noted that the flat offered in April 2004 had not met the requirements of the RSFSR Housing Code.
21.  Enforcement proceedings were opened on 6 June 2005 and on 22 June 2005 the Council credited the judgment debt to the account of the bailiffs' service.
22.  According to the applicant, on 8 July 2005 he received the money.